Two “nulpen” in the Berlin cinema summer: The world is an ass, but a pretty beautiful one

Many girls walked around for a long time afterwards with a film quote from “Prinzessinnenbad” on their T-shirt: “I come from Kreuzberg, you pussy,” a Berlin saying from one of the protagonists, whose rough self-confidence has somewhat been lost in the city and its people almost 20 years later. A film like “Nulpen,” which creates identity and is fun, can help regain it.

Tough and mushy on the outside

Ramona and Nicola, the fictional heroines from Sorina Gajewski’s feature film debut “Nulpen” are of a similar caliber to the girls from Prinzenbad. Tough and mushy on the outside, soft and full of question marks on the inside.

Unlike the slightly younger outdoor pool girls, Ramona and Nico already have their high school diploma in their pockets, which is hardly noticeable in the summer-filled coming-of-age drama “Nulpen” because the girls, who travel a lot in Kreuzberg, constantly speak in Digga-Rapper-Denglisch slang, which is now used as a youth language to level out class differences.

Director and screenwriter Sorina Gajewski studied at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, and “Nulpen” is her feature film debut. A debut that is extremely real and credible when it comes to the tone of its Berlin story.

The word “Nulpe”, which Nico uses to insult her friend Ramona after she screwed up again, is translated in the English subtitles as “Slacker”. The term from pop culture completely applies to Ramona’s gruff, no-nonsense attitude, with which she refuses to integrate into the performance society in any way in the summer after school ends.

According to Duden, synonyms for Nulpe are “idiot, fool, bottle, crutch”. But a young woman can’t be that stupid when she answers Nico’s question about what name she would give herself as a sprayer: “I would choose Sisyphus, that guy who always fails, but somehow doesn’t fail.”

The summer idleness that Hannes Schulze’s handheld camera captures in soft tones begins – of course – with hanging out. Ramona (Bella Lochmann), who also likes to call herself a ninja and has a big mouth, hangs out with Nico (Pola Geiger), who shoots out the neighbor’s window with her gun.

In order to teach the girls a sense of responsibility, the educationally active man places his birdcage in front of their door and tells them to look after the animal for two days. Except that Ramona and Nico would much rather let it fly, which leads to trouble with Nico’s mother.

Ramona’s little brother Noah (Rio Kirchner), in contrast to his No Future sister, who shrugs off the demonstrations against global warming on the street with a bored shrug, wants to do something. For the climate and also to find the bird again. “Why are you so negative?” he shouts at his big sister.

This fundamental conflict between Noah and Ramona, which is a reflection of Ramona’s inner struggles, runs through the story, in which the three of them roam the city streets hunting for birds. It comes after a crash between Nicola and Ramona, who realizes that her friend wants to do something with her life after the summer, in an open church. “You can’t change anything anyway. The world is an ass!” Ramona shouts at a priest. “Don’t you believe in anything?” she asks in consternation.

An eleven-year-old who in one scene accuses the Boomer generation of destroying the planet. An 18-year-old who doesn’t want a future because she no longer believes in one in the face of multiple crises. Sorina Gajewski’s summer impressions, which are airy and light for the most part, are a strong subject. Noah’s part in particular seems overloaded in places with too much rustling paper.

But scenes like the one in which the three children, still giggling, roll around in the grass of Tempelhofer Feld and chatter about galaxies, are heartfelt and coherent. And the interaction between the girls, in which Ramona always sets the tone at first and later reacts even more insecurely to Nico’s accusations, is carefully observed and staged.

“Nulpen” is a successful debut in two respects: firstly, because Sorina Gajewski introduces herself as a promising filmmaker who has already won several awards for the film. And because even a stubborn skeptic like Ramona suspects that the more determined you are to live in it, the wider the world will become.